The West& the Rest

The title might suggest to the reader that there is some conflict between the West and the Rest. This is not so. Western dominance from Imperialism & Colonialism and now Globalization means it has been very successful in imposing its political, economic and social values on other countries. Many would say this is a good thing, of liberal democracies and human rights. Just a small problem the West did not practice these when they went around destroying other societies, and exploiting the people’s and the lands.The Western World was built on the destruction of the Islamic civilization and others.( I will discuss this more detail in future articles)Prior to the rise of the West the Islamic civilization was the most advanced in every field, in politics,economics,technology,business and finance.Samuel Huntington an American political scientist wrote a very famous book called the Clash of Civilization. The book was bitterly criticized for its simplistic antagonistic model. To summarise his book, according to him Western Democracy, civilization and capitalism emerged from a particular European historical context. Therefore the concept of democracy and its economic& social values are peculiar to the West.He argued long lived civilizations like Islam or the Chinese or Persian civilizations would not have lasted thousands of years if they had no value to these societies. As the rest of the world develops they may not necessarily become Western in values and ideals. The Japanese are classic example, they have western style democracy, liberal capitalism, but no one would suggest the Japanese are Western; they have retained their historical, cultural and linguistic inheritance.So as other countries like China and India become richer, they may look Western to the outsider in consumer habits, but it would be a mistake to say they share Western values.So process of De- Westernization is going to take place hence the West and the Rest. There is a famous article written by a respected American political scientist arguing that this process is now taking place.Wealthy Chinese and Arabs are going around the world buying art, culture and treasures, of their respective countries. Taking back their cultural, historical inheritance stolen by Western Colonial powers in the Past.We only have to look in Europe where the Greeks want the Elgin Marbles which the British have, the Greeks rightly believe to be part of their cultural inheritance.Kind RegardsTiger Moto